One year ago I hit publish on The Never Ending Book Basket. EEEEEKK!!

I cannot believe my blog is celebrating its first year anniversary. Seriously. How in the hell did that happen?

Where It All Began: You see, I have this idea…

This all started when I had this crazy idea that I should start a book blog. Up until that point I don’t think I had actually ever been on a book blog, but somehow that idea popped into my head. Fast forward 365 amazing days later, and this blog is still going!

I set out to write this blog as a place to talk about my biggest passion: books.

I have to admit that when I started this thing, I really didn’t think anyone would read my reviews or posts. (And I’m really not joking at all when I say that.)

As much as I hate to say that, that’s the truth. I really thought the few people who would read it would be my friends who I basically begged into reading it, or my family who I would continually bombard with blog links. And to be honest, I was fine with the fact that there was a good chance only a few people might read my blog.

This blog started off as an idea to just spread the book love and talk about the many books I was reading. So many things have happened since then, and I couldn’t be more grateful for every single one, but when I started this blog, I didn’t realize a lot of things…

I didn’t realize that I would meet so many amazing people in this community. I didn’t even fathom that I would develop personal friendships and connections with so many authors and fellow readers. I didn’t know that by starting this blog I would find myself in one of the best, and I do mean the best, communities around.

It also never even occurred to me that staring this blog would lead to me beta reading. (If we’re being honest, I for some reason didn’t even realize people did that.) The fact that someone would want me to read their book and give them feedback still blows me away. It never entered my mind that starting this book blog would allow me the chance to read and experience so many phenomenal books because of this AMAZING community of authors, bloggers, and readers.

When I started this blog, I never realized the immense amount of joy it would bring me.

What I’ve Learned: And yeah, I actually learned shit!

I’ve come to learn a lot in this year of blogging. Some of the things I’ve learned revolve around the wonderful world of book reviewing and blogging, and some other things involve discovering wonderful things about my crazy ass self. But through it all I’ve really learned a lot, and I wouldn’t trade this year in for anything. It has just simply been the best.

Some of the many things I’ve learned in the last 365 days of book blogging:

• This community of readers, authors, & bloggers is the best, and I couldn’t feel more welcomed in it.
• When I write a book review, it will likely never be less than 1000 words. #wordyforlife
• The number of Kindle books I can devour in one weekend is somewhat alarming, but this is clearly a positive.
• Any type of caffeine will expedite and greatly aid in the writing and creating a blog posts and reviews.
• When I love a book: I LOVE A BOOK HARD.
• There is no greater feeling in the world then sharing a book you love with someone else.
• Independently or self-published authors (or those authors who started off as independently published authors) set the standard for connecting with readers. Hands down.
• The generosity of this community is one of its greatest assets.
• That bloody Facebook algorithm sucks something fierce. My blog’s Facebook page will likely only ever reach less than 10% of its total audience, but it is what it is, and I can’t change that. So I’m going to keep posting my little heart out! Eat that, Facebook.
• Nothing will rile a group of females up more so than a film adaptation of their favorite romance novel, or waiting for the release date of their next must read.
• Goodreads serves a wonderful purpose if used appropriately and respectfully, and unfortunately it rarely is, but I’ve got hope that one day it’ll get its act together.
• Release day is like Christmas Day. And lucky for us there’s a release day every day of the year!
• The number of pictures of half naked man candy that so wonderfully permeate book blog’s Facebook pages makes my news feed look like and extended version of Magic Mike. And I like it. A lot.
• My never-ending book basket has literally grown in size since I started this blog. At this point that thing is like a bad episode of hoarders. The amount of unread Kindle books I now own is almost just as bad. (Like it’s really bad.)
• I own more unread books than I could possibly read in 6 months’ time, but I fucking love that. My to be read list is a mile long, and I still keep buying books like I need them to breathe, but that’s me and that’s just how it’s going to be.
• A good book is well worth a sleepless night. Always.

And I could go and on, but now it’s time for what’s really important. Now comes the most important portion of this blog post:

IT’S THANK YOU TIME!!

There are so many people I have to thank immensely for helping me this past year and for encouraging me all along the way.  I hope you all know how eternally thankful and grateful I am to each and every one of you.

I heart you all something fierce, and if I could, I would give you all the chocolate in the world, all the book boyfriends you’ve fallen in love with, just enough glitter to make you all the more fabulous & sparkly, and all the wine and booze you so rightfully deserve for putting up with my crazy ass.

To my friends Brittany, Amy, Taylor, Meredith, Cindy, Domo, Michelle, Aubrey: You’re the ones who encouraged me from the very beginning. (You know, when it only took 5 phone calls and countless texts with each of you to convince me that this was a good idea.) You ladies are the ones that keep me going, and you all listen to me go on and on about this blog day in and day out. You tolerate my ridiculousness and you accept my crazy text messages asking you your opinions about all blog related things, and I couldn’t love you all more for it.

Thank you to my family and especially my mother who now actually enjoys telling people about the accomplishments that my blog sometimes makes. (Now can you please stop complaining about how many books I buy?)

To all the authors who have welcomed me with open arms and made me realize why it is I do this, THANK YOU!! You are all the bees mother fucking knees!! Meredith Wild, Author M. Mabie, Kathryn Andrews, Elizabeth Hayley, Alison Bliss, and so many more. (I could honestly go on and on…) I can’t thank you enough for everything. Seriously. I don’t have the right amount of words to tell you how thankful I am for your friendships and guidance, and everything else. You are all simply the best, and it has been fabulous getting to know every single one of you. Oh, and thanks for those awesome effing book you all write superbly too because they’ve given me some amazingly awesome reading experiences that I will NEVER forget.

Thank you to all the people I’ve met this year. The fellow bloggers, readers, book addicts that have it just as bad as I do. You are all wonderful people, and it has been fantastic getting to know you. And I sincerely look forward to knowing more of you as this blog continues.

To the groups that run all those fabulous blog tours, cover reveals, release day blitzes, review tours, and everything else in between, thank you for being so flipping awesome. Special shout out to Wendy and Claire from Bare Naked Words because those two are the best, and are as nice as can be!

To the street teams that keep me sane: Team Wild, The Mo Stash, Pure Bliss, and all the rest. You’ve all been so welcoming of me and my little blog, and you all make me laugh and smile every day. And all those half naked men pictures are also equally nice.

And last but certainly not least, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read any one of the posts that I’ve done on here. It means the world to me that someone would take the time to read my words, and I can’t even begin to describe how thankful I am to each and every one of you.

You are all the best. And I wish I could give you a hug. And that might be creepy and crazy and a tad bit weird, but do you honestly expect anything less from me at this point?

Thank you all for 365 days of fun, books, crazy, and everything else in between. It’s been one helluva ride, and I for one look forward to doing many more of these anniversary posts in the future.

Oh, and did I mention I really heart you all something fierce?

Because I do.

Like a lot. ❤